Categories

Meta

Month: September 2017

When Jeff Alt set out to fulfil a long-held dream and hike the Appalachian Trail in 1998, he could have had no idea that his walk would eventually become the catalyst for a wonderful fund-raising effort that continues to this day. He raises money for Sunshine Homes, a facility that has been home to his brother Aaron for much of his life.

Not only did he raise an enormous amount of money for this worthy cause, he became a writer and acclaimed speaker on the back of that singular decision to step onto the Appalachian Trail. He even appeared as a speaker in a Tedx talk. Click on the link to hear his story. He also offers National Park lectures that are free to attend. Click on this link to see an upcoming event in Shenandoah National Park. As you can see below, Jeff also has a very interesting wedding photo!!

You can learn a lot about Jeff’s myriad interests and adventures by going to his website and, if you have youngsters interested in hiking, check out the official site for his “The Adventures of Bubba Jones” book series. Of course, he is also on Facebook.

With the amount of books that Jeff has written, it seems sensible just to link you to his Amazon author page, where you can check out his books, including A Walk For Sunshine.

The lovely Kelly Anderson, who we met back in episode #40, spoke with me to let me know how her thru-hike ended. She is always enthusiastic and entertaining to talk with and this was no exception.

Lastly, please come and visit (then like) my Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail Facebook page. I intend to do a lot more with this page in the future, so stay tuned.

For our 52nd episode–which commemorates the fact that we’ve been podcasting for precisely a year–I caught up with Jessa Hackman, otherwise known as Attie. Jessa was first introduced to listeners of the show in Episode #16. She had written to me requesting Grizz’s hiking preparations spreadsheet and, as I sent that to her, I wondered if she would be a candidate for a project I’d been considering. I wanted to follow a hiker in their preparations for the hike, then continue to hear from them throughout their journey. Jessa had just qualified as lawyer, she was very articulate, and it seemed to me that she had the potential to really give the Appalachian Trail a determined try.

We discussed the idea and I immediately gave her an “out.” I wanted her to be sure that this show would be something that she could commit to and, after a weekend’s thought, she agreed. Later hearing from her mother, Joan, about Jessa’s many achievements already in her young life, I knew that we’d found an exceptional woman. Moreover, involving both Joan and Jessa’s fiance, Nick, in her journey seemed to give extra impetus to the project.

For this week’s pictures, I asked for one of Jessa as a lawyer and one of her at her skankiest as a hiker. Typically, Jessa obliged by giving me a neat set of “kind of matching” images.

For me, this is something of a sad farewell, as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my weekly chats with Jessa. That said, we now have a permanent record of her hike that, in some small way, this show has helped bring to fruition. Hopefully, guests, listeners and I feel some part of that success and can share in the feeling in the picture below.

Daryl Fleischer is aware that his thru-hike, hopefully with his lovely wife, is several years in his future. He has work and family responsibilities, like many of us. Yet his joy at being a weekend or occasional day hiker shines through in our conversation. He is a self-confessed trail addict and is prepared to work for his hiking fixes, including sleeping in his car overnight to get a good spot on McAfee Knob the next morning.

If you’d like to follow our weekend warrior, you can connect with Daryl through Facebook.

John Boyet returns to feed us another serving of information. This time, John is talking about food and the various options available to hikers. You can always reach out to John for more advice at john@trailwalkergear.com.

Don’t forget to return to the show next week. I will be celebrating my one year of podcasting and will mark it by talking with Jessa after her successful return from Katahdin.